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Trail. Sneak patrols and Philippine guerrillas were sent into the enemy positions where they found the enemy well dug in and holed up in bunkers and caves. Our Regimental Commander ordered constant patrolling and decided to wait for artillery support before making a concerted drive toward Taloma. Several small scale "Banzai" night attacks were completely stopped and a large number of the enemy killed both during the raids and by daylight patrols.
On 13 May 1 945, plans were suddenly changed and our 155th Infantry Regiment, with the 116th Field Artillery in support, moved north on the Sayre Highway with orders to capture all airfields and towns, clear the highway of all enemy and join elements of the 40th Infantry Division moving south. The 40th Division had previously landed at Macajalar Bay on the north coast of Mindanao.
We pursued the retreating enemy by day and as each night approached, we established defensive perimeters to preclude confusion by our personnel and to prevent enemy infiltrations during the night. One particular night, I heard intense firing from a specific area where I knew my friend, Victor Lind, to be manning a machine gun. Early the next morning, my machine gun section, as part of a patrol, moved quickly to the place where the previous night's commotion occurred. Upon arrival, we saw several dead enemy immediately in front of Vic's machine gun position. Vic's crew, with riflemen on both sides, had positioned themselves across a jungle trail. During the night, several of the enemy had come down the trail not suspecting that Americans were poised to intercept them. As they were almost upon our men, everyone commenced firing on them. I was relieved to know that Vic Lind and his companions came through the encounter without injury.
Our respective patrol moved out beyond the area of the previous night's encounter to probe for the presence of other enemy personnel. Instantly, we came under enemy fire, probably from concealed snipers. We responsed by spraying the surrounding jungle with withering fire from our rifles,
submachine guns, and grenades.........then, there was silence.
The remaining enemy were either killed or hastily disappeared into the dense jungle. Anyway, I was personally thankful that a few days earlier, I had exchanged my 30 caliber carbine for a submachine gun that provided much more fire power. Such incidents were common as we chased the enemy across the interior of Mindanao.
Our advance north was relentless despite demolished bridges and other delaying tactics by the enemy. In quick, successive thrusts, our 155th Infantry Regiment captured three airfields,
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